Chronicle of a Summer

The canon of the genre, the film ‘Chronicle of a Summer’, was a collaboration between the leftist intellectual Edgar Morin and the anthropologist Jean Rouch. Using an approach considered cutting-edge for its time, without shying away from revealing the camera and the filmmaking process itself, Rouch and Morin strived to create a reflection of reality as authentic as possible, bringing to life Morin’s concept of cinéma-vérité. The authors spent a summer following several ordinary Parisians. They interview a factory worker, a couple of artists, students, an African immigrant, a young woman who has left the safety of her parents’ home to go live of her own, as well as other characters who tell them of their lives and work, troubles and dreams, share memories and convictions, discuss politics, and comment on the very idea behind making this film. ‘Chronicle’ is a fascinating view of its own time in which one can detect subtle references to the processes yet to come and themes that would eventually become emblematic of the Sixties, namely, debates on social inequality, war, colonial heritage, and immigration, surprisingly topical still today.